Pastor’s Porn Use Exposed – you won’t believe how God is using him now

James and Teri Craft are a walking miracle. The intimacy that they now share in their marriage is a powerful example of how God can mold the mess of our struggles into a wonderful masterpiece. We recently caught up with James and Teri to interview them for a new series designed to help women navigate the heartbreak of betrayal. The new series is for the wives of the men going through the Conquer Series. I had a chance to ask James about their story and the project that they’ve been working on since his recovery.
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What happened for you in the lead up to your confession to Teri?

Leading up to the confession to my loving wife Teri, my life was in turmoil. I was pastoring a church in Hawaii, nursing my addiction to pornography, and trying to outrun an affair that I had while I lived and pastored on the mainland. The conflict, pain and anguish I felt inside are beyond the words that I can describe on this page. I had become the person I vowed never to become, and I was about to devastate the ones I love the most. Up to this the point of confession, I buried myself in my work and ministry, and kept this part of my life locked up within a dark box within my heart. God knew that full exposure was the only way for me to become free, and for my family to experience his complete healing power.

How did you overcome the fear of dealing with your addiction from the position of being in church leadership?

I didn’t overcome my fear of dealing with my addiction until I was exposed. I wish I could say that I confessed my sin and then moved into a healing process, but no, I was exposed for all I had done and then went through a healing process. In that healing process, openness, honesty and being vulnerable with others and dealing with the wounds of my past and understanding how much my Heavenly Father loves me, is what helped me overcome that fear that I carried for so long. I was deathly afraid for my entire life of what others might think of me if I came out with the struggles I had to pornography. I was a pastor, husband and father, and the thought of letting everyone down, left me crippled with fear. Walking out the healing process with other men brought such healing to my soul and allowed me to discover who the real James Craft was.

Teri, how did you feel when James opened up to you?

At first it felt as if my life was over. All my dreams and everything we had built together was simply gone, like a tsunami wave came and washed it all away in one split second. I knew I needed the Lord’s direction; I needed the Lord to put hope in my heart just to take the next breath. I kept asking Him in a frantic state, “Where do I go from here?” With sweet and calm words of peace, Jesus reassured me that if walked this out with James all would be recovered. I had no idea of the depth of healing He would take us through, and that what was to be recovered was not so much about position, title or earthly “things”, but rather the people He had created us to be originally before all the craziness of life had damaged our hearts and lives. He was restoring us to walk with Him as our truest selves. In peace, love and unity.

James, what did recovery look like for you? What did it look like for Teri?

My recovery process was something I feared every day of my life. Being open and honest, completely vulnerable before my wife and other men – NO WAY! But that is where God had to take me to break down the shell that was encased around my heart. I thought people were a threat to me, not a partner. This thought process was deeply rooted in when from my childhood. When Teri and I started walking through our healing process, doors of understanding and revelation entered my life. I started to discover the “why” behind the “what” I did. I started to heal from the inside out, discover who God created me to be. I started feeling comfortable in the new skin of health that God gave me. The guys I met with for an entire year, became my brothers and friends. They knew me more than anyone else before. It opened my eyes to the realization that I can’t live life alone and I need people who know me, to walk beside me every step of my life.

Both Teri and I met with Dr. Ted and Diane Roberts of Pure Desire Ministries on a monthly basis for 10 months and we both met in groups for recovery and accountability. It was a long one year process where we spent many hours a day doing devotions, walking and talking, praying and studying. We sold almost everything and spent that year in kind of a sabbatical where our primary focus in life was healing for our individual lives and our family.

Tell us about the heart of the Novus Project:

Novus in Latin means “New”. For the overwhelming number of young people who are currently struggling with media misuse and pornography on a daily basis, what they really need is something new. New insights into what is going on in their brain, new tools to help them function with the stresses of their everyday existence, new vision for their future and a new outlook on life as it hits them in real time.

The Novus Project is a community dedicated to preventing the relationally damaging effects of pornography and misuse of media by engaging students, families and schools through awareness, tools and support.

By reaching the public schools and collegiate systems with The Novus Project program and resources in development, we can expose the truth about the consequences of media misuse and explicit material upon an individual’s brain and the damaging effects it produces in relationships, personal health and society at large.

The bottom line is that many students are struggling with this issue and feel as if they have nowhere to go for help.

What have you seen God do through the Novus Project so far?

We have seen countless people come forward and say they are struggling with the very same issues we faced and feel as if they have nowhere to go. This issue is not a respecter of age, race, gender or socio-economic status. So many have thanked us for being honest and open about our story so they feel like they too can be honest and have hope.

Many men are finding freedom from porn by following the strategies taught in the Conquer Series, a 6-disc DVD set that provides practical tools taught by Dr. Ted Roberts. Dr. Ted has a 90% success rate in helping men find freedom. Hundreds of thousands of men have used the Conquer Series, including thousands of churches in nearly 40 countries. Order it here and have it shipped today: http://www.conquerseries.com

James and Teri’s story will be featured in our new DVD series currently in production and available in 2016. If you would like to support and give to the Novus Project to help the next generation in regards to the effects of media misuse and pornography, you can do that at www.thenovusproject.org/donate